Living in the Scoot Utopia

Be on the lookut for this asshole.

He was driving north on I-35 near 12th Street at about 12:47pm today when he encountered a backup due to construction. Like most SUV drivers in these situations he waited until the last second to merge and, unable to do so, attempted to instead swerve to the right to exit at 12th Street. He missed the exit, however, and nearly plowed into 3 construction workers who were standing near their truck.

Undaunted, he rolled forward several feet and then sharply turned right, hopping the curb and driving up the grassy hill, finally cutting back onto the 12th Street exit ramp right in front of someone.

Naturally it's Kansas plates and, big shock, they say "JO" on them.

I believe the license plate number is either TKE-062, TKC-062, TFC-062, TKE-012, TKC-012, or TFC-012. This is the best picture I was able to get, if you can discern the plate number through any filters you may have feel free to post it as a comment.

Posted by ScooterJ at 01:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

When I got my notice last month that my neighborhood was next in line to get their Time-Warner DVR's "upgraded" from Passport to Navigator, I was worried. I'd heard plenty of horror stories from those further south who had already received the "upgrade". Tales about how all of their recordings were erased. All of their scheduled recordings wiped out. Boxes constantly rebooting. Being unable to record anything. Having to drive 10-20 miles to one of the poorly-located stores (why isn't there one anywhere near the Plaza or Downtown??) to wait in line and exchange their DVRs for new ones that might work better.

Fortunately they got those issues worked out before the "upgrade" came to my neighborhood. When it came to my box, everything went smoothly.

Or so I thought.

After a few weeks, my saved recordings started randomly disappearing for no reason. Including one irreplaceable saved recording of a live broadcast.

Then it randomly started deciding it no longer wanted to record various series. No warning, no error in the log, scheduled recordings just up and vanish from time to time.

Then this week it started flagging programs as NEW when in fact theey were reruns that it had recorded before.

The interface is ugly. The white letters on blue backgrounds are difficult to read, especially on standard televisions.

It is also poorly designed from a usability standpoint. For instance, when searching for a show in the old Passport system, you would be taken immediately to the alphabet keypad. Now under Navigator you are taken to a scrolling list of every show title that no one in their right mind would ever want to use, and you must navigate to a second screen to get to the more useful alphabet menu.

The system is S....L....O....W. Last night I added two new series to my recording schedule. Under the old Passport system, this would have taken about a minute, maybe two tops. Last night, under Navigator? It took just over twenty minutes. No joke. This includes time that it had to sit and think and process my scheduling requests... for multiple minutes... with all buttons on my remote frozen and unusable until it was done.

Good grief.

To paraphrase my best friend, it's like being used to using OSX and then being forced to "upgrade" to Windows 98.

Time Warner Cable has reduced the features and services they have given us by dumping this clearly not-ready-for-market software on us, yet has not lowered our rates to compensate for this reduced service. It's time for TWC to own up to their mistake and either lower their rates or switch back to the old software until they are capable of developing a product that is actually usable.

Posted by ScooterJ at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I spotted this view of the old (current) Federal Reserve building while waiting for the bike race to go by this afternoon...

Posted by ScooterJ at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There's a limit to the number of intact dead animals one should wear on one's body at one time, and that limit is zero.

This man is wearing at least 4 times more than the limit + 1.

After seeing him I was curious what sort of vehicle he had arrived in. I have a pretty good inkling it may be this one:

Posted by ScooterJ at 07:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The join me this Saturday morning (September 8) for KC TourWalk 2.

This time around the walk will begin in Waldo and make a 10-mile loop. (There is also a family-friendly 5-mile version this time: 2.5 miles with the group along the Trolly Track Trail and 2.5 miles back on your own.)

The walk begins promptly at 9:00am at the north end of the Waldo Park-and-Ride, 74th & Wornall, and should end around 12:30.

Please go to www.kctourwalk.com for complete details and to register. Like last time, it's free!

Posted by ScooterJ at 05:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

On Saturday B and I had a few hours free so decided to do a litle rural barhopping north of Kansas City.

We began with a stop in Lathrop, MO where we found three potential watering holes, but at 11:00am nothing was open yet. With our time limited, we moved on to the next town.

Our day began shortly after 10:00 in the morning...

#1: Bert & Ernie's
Plattsgurg, MO [map]


A pretty nice place! After our first beer we decided to stick around and try the pizza. We had a medium pepperoni & sausage, and it was delicious. Actually good enough that I'd be willing to make the hour drive each way to have it again sometime!


#2: Katies Pub
Gower, MO [map]


Since the phone number was disconnected we assumed this place was out of business. But, on a hunch that a town this big would have to have at least one bar, we decided to make the side trip. Sure enough, Katies Pub was still there, just without a phone. While drinking our beer we played a few rounds of trivia.


#3: B Z Bar
Edgerton, MO [map]


Conveniently located right next to the town's police station, this bar featured a birthday board for all the regulars and a resident lhasa apsa.


#4: On The Rocks
Smithville, MO [map]


A strip mall bar right off the highway. Everyone assumed we were here for some fishing event that was going on at the lake.


#5: Town Tavern
Smithville, MO [map]


As I was looking for the men's room in a dark hallway someone opened the bar's back door, sunblinding me enough that I had to ask the woman who entered which door was the one I needed. :) My beer may have been the first draw of the day, it had a slight fruity taste.


#6: Brick House Cafe & Pub
Smithville, MO [map]


Nice place with a good tap selection. We had Mule Kick, it was sweeter than usual and the coffee and chocolate flavors were stronger than usual. B didn't like it, I didn't mind it but it was too rich for me to be able to drink lots of it. B found an inchworm on the bar and took it out to a tree.


#7: Destiny's Bar & Grill
Nashua, Kansas City, MO [map]


Located at 11129 North Oak in the former Sour Octopus restaurant location, Destiny's has the distinction of being the northernmost bar in Kansas City proper.


We finished up right on time, perfectly filling the opening we both had in our day. A nice way to start out a three-day weekend!

Posted by ScooterJ at 03:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)